Madison -- Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Wednesday some Senate Republicans also want to modify mining legislation so that iron mining companies are charged a tax based on how much ore they take out of the ground, but that he and Gov. Scott Walker oppose such a change.

He said if the provision is included in the legislation, he expects Walker to remove it with the governor's expansive line-item veto powers.

Fitzgerald said he hopes the Senate can act on the bill by the end of the month. Before then, it needs to go through the Joint Finance Committee. A committee meeting has yet to be set.

Republicans are hoping to ease mining regulations this spring in an effort to draw mining company Gogebic Taconite to a site in Ashland and Iron counties. The proposal would bring 700 jobs to northern Wisconsin but has sparked fierce opposition from environmentalists and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose reservation is downstream from the mine site.

A similar bill failed last year by one vote, when Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) joined all Democrats to oppose the measure. Republicans now have a wider majority in the Senate and expect to pass the bill.

But some Senate Republicans want to see changes to the bill so that mining companies are charged a tonnage tax. They say that would keep Wisconsin in line with Minnesota and Michigan and guarantee that mining companies can't sidestep their tax liability.

A tonnage tax patterned after Minnesota is part of mining legislation pushed by Sen. Tim Cullen (D-Janesville). However, his measures were rejected last week by Senate and Assembly mining committees.

Cullen said he's asked for a memorandum from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau on tax issues related to mining and said he believes it will show that a mining company will end up paying little in income taxes in future years.

Fitzgerald said he strongly opposes a tonnage tax and believes Walker would veto such a tax if it were included in the legislation. The governor has broad line-item veto powers that would allow him to strike out that portion of the legislation while letting the rest of it stand.

Republicans are emphasizing that a tonnage tax would be a new tax in Wisconsin - anathema to many GOP lawmakers. They also say that a chief difference between Wisconsin and its neighboring iron ore states is that a mine would have to spend large sums on infrastructure costs such as building utility lines, roads and other upgrades that are already in place in the other states.

Fitzgerald said the backers of the tonnage tax were looking for an "insurance policy" on state revenue. In a later interview he called it an attempted “cash grab.”

"I think it's a flawed kind of philosophy," he told the business group, saying it would make Wisconsin less attractive for mining companies and put the Badger State at a competitive disadvantage.

He said he had talked to aides to the governor and was confident he would veto such a tax if it were included in the bill.

"He's not going to sign a bill that has new taxes in it,” Fitzgerald said.

He struck a similar tone in an interview with reporters afterward.

“It flies in the face of everything we’ve been talking about for two years,” Fitzgerald said. “Why would you treat this company any different than you do any other corporation in the state?”

Walker “is not in favor of any new taxes and he believes a tonnage tax is a new tax,” Fitzgerald said.

Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie said that the governor is opposed to tax increases and when a final bill reaches his desk, he will evaluate its merits using two principles: Will the legislation help create jobs and will it continue to protect Wisconsin's environment.

About Patrick Marley

Patrick Marley covers state government and state politics. He is the author, with Journal Sentinel reporter Jason Stein, of "More Than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions and the Fight for Wisconsin.”